With all the thousands of series created and a plethora of content streaming at our fingertips, I want to know how many episodes you give a series before you say, "I am out!" and give up on it.

I am trying to catch up on a variety of shows, old and new, and some shows just don't seem to hit as quickly as others. But the hard question becomes, how much time do I give this series before I realize this isn't my bag and dump it?

I know there are several series that I have made it deeply into and was glad I didn't give up on. But flip the coin and there are too many to mention where I felt like I gave too much time, and I could have been watching something else.

So, what do you do?

Based on The Curse, one episode.

1 to 1.5 give or take for a drama - and based on the genre/way-its-going. Latest example for me is True Detective S4. I gave it 2. Just not my cup of tea.

A 'franchise' type show like Star Trek and Sci-Fi - longer. I learned that lesson with Babylon 5.

Comedy - that's harder. But probably shorter if I don't laugh in the episode 1.

Just a few from 2023 that I tried, but determined I had no time or they weren't for me.

True Lies - 2 episodes

Lucky Hank - 1 episode

Class of '09 - 2 episodes

There are a bunch that I simply never watched because I have no time for them no matter how awesome people say there.

and there are some that I put on pause and eventually come back to.

A show like "Fool Me Once" which is a UK mystery, which I assume many of you here never bothered with. I just happened to see the trailer on YouTube. It had almost no buzz coming into it. But, the premise interested me and I watched it all in 3 days and it also became one of the most watched shows all-time at Netflix. And I really liked it.

Just can’t watch or try everything and most new series fail.

I voted two but it’s conditional.

The Bear was dropped within a couple minutes when I saw him buying bootleg meat and decided that was too stupid for me.

I barely made it through the first episode of The Righteous Gemstones until the character reveal in the literal last few seconds of the first episode at which point I basically screamed to start the next one.

I gave it two, same with Mr and Mrs Smith.

But I stuck with ST: Discovery for 50 eps when I should have bailed as soon as I saw their reimagined Klingons.

But on the other hand, I stopped watching Breaking Bad during the short first season, but was convinced to give it another try from the beginning after the second season, and then (of course) fell in love with it.

I accidently voted for 3 but it is usually 2.

If something is awful out of the box it may be 1, sometimes I will go beyond 2 and drop a series especially if it has multiple seasons already. I have come across a few shows over time that 'look good' based on a visual, the thumbnail a trailer, etc, and will start it only to realize I have bailed at episode 1 at 10 min in so I think I am somewhat consistent. and yes I generally stop watching at that point. Once or twice I had a second go at something and powered on, but it is exceedingly rare

It's rare that I watch a series brand new, as I usually wait until a series has completed its run before watching one. If a series only gets one season, and is then canceled, I generally don't bother watching it. This helps weed out the stuff that likely wasn't all that good in the first place. Once I do finally start a series, I'll give it 2 episodes. If I don't like it, I'll check reviews to see if there's a general "first season is rough, but it gets to be amazing in season 2" consensus. If so, I'll power through to at least a couple episodes of the second season.

Depends. If I'm really bored by something, it could be not even a full episode. If there are some good elements but not enough, I may make it half way through a season/series.

If I like the cast and/or enjoy the showrunner's prior works, I'll usually give it more rope. For genres I tolerate more than actually enjoy most of the time, maybe one episode. So for disposable network comedy #324 or generic cop procedural, they get two episodes at best to prove something. I gave the new CW series Ride 4 episodes before deciding last night to drop it.

I try a lot of anime on something like Crunchyroll and they keep track of where in the series you left off. Most random series get 4 episodes before I dip out.

For new shows --- 1 episode, maybe 2 at most.

For existing shows that I invested lots of time on --- once I get extremely bored, I'll drop the whole series. I did that for Blacklist. Dropped it in the middle of season 9. Also dropped Walking Dead after episode 9.1.

if i am engaged with the first ep, then i will give it more. if not, i'm out.

Usually 2 or 3, but sometimes...

a) only 1 if I find it very bad or I realize it's something I'm not interested in
b) 5-7 if I see potential and hope it gets better
c) after a full season and realized it was stringing me along for nothing

This thread reminded me that I only watched a couple episodes of True Lies. There have been a few action series lately that I’ve started and drifted away from, not like a conscious choice but I got distracted for some reason and never thought to go back.

I gave the new Night Court two or three before bailing,

Depends, I try to give shows 1-3 episodes to pull me in.

I gave up on Wheel of Time after the first episode, that's a recent example.

Varies greatly. Obi Wan got 20 minutes.

Depends really. For a half hour show I’m willing to do more (maybe four or five episodes). Hour long shows on the other hand I’d say one or two.

Depends on a lot of factors, but generally if the first episode at least shows good promise I’ll give it a second.

Two, and that is literally what I say if I hate it: "I'm out!"

ZERO.

I'll read the episode summaries that the hardcore folks post online.

If the episode summaries sound kinda boring, then I don't even bother watching any episodes.

For example, I've been doing this consistently for Doctor Who series (seasons) after Matt Smith's run ended.

Depends. If something doesn't grab me in some way in the first ten or so minutes, I'm out. (I'm looking you, The Curse!)

Other times, I'll make a value judgment and if something looks like it has potential, I might go to or three episodes.

I don't usually watch shows that I'm not going to like. If anything, I'll just go really slow. For example, I started The Expanse like 4 years ago and I'm only halfway through Season 2. It's not "must see" but I'll get back to it eventually. But I can't think of any show that I totally bailed on after an episode or two. If anything it just doesn't grab me to the point where I have to binge. But it's not because I didn't enjoy what I watched...just not enough to immediately go to the next one.

The Curse has been mentioned a few times and I've only watched the pilot. I liked it fine. But I haven't felt the need to go back to it. I probably will eventually though. Which is different than making a conscious decision to never watch a show again.

You haven’t seen any Capaldi? His run had some lesser writing here and there but when it was good it was fucking amazing.

I know going into a show if I'm going to like it or not based on the cast, but once I start a show I have to see every episode until the end to see the full story.